Businesses in all sectors of the industry were asked to report financial and structural data, presented in tables 1-4 of this publication. Only businesses classified to Residential construction and Construction trade services were asked additional questions on other aspects of their operations. This data is presented in tables 5-10.

Further information about the scope and coverage can be found in the Explanatory notes.

Tables 1-3 show that during the 1996-97 financial year there were 81,000 private sector employing businesses in the Construction industry with total employment of 327,700 persons. Total income was reported as $53,162m and total expenses $50,388m. Operating profit before tax (OPBT) was $3,041m giving an industry profit margin of 5.8%.

Business averages for this industry shown in Table 4 indicate that businesses had an average employment of 4.1 persons. Average income was $656,000 while average expenses were $622,000. Average operating profit before tax was estimated to be $38,000.

Table 5 summarises business strategies used during the last major economic downturn by Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. Of these businesses, 39% reported they had yet to experience a major downturn. For those businesses (61%) who had suffered a downturn, the main strategy was to reduce the number of sub-contractors engaged.

Table 6 shows methods used by businesses to dispose of waste in the Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. A large proportion (41%) of businesses in Residential construction and Construction trade services removed their own waste. About 11% of businesses reported that no waste removal was necessary.

Tables 7-10 report on computer usage within the Residential construction and Construction trade services industries. They show that 49% of businesses used computers. The main use was for general administrative tasks, reported by one-third of businesses in the industry.

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